〈Terror (2)〉
I frowned at something I felt from far away.
It was a deluge of intense emotions triggered by an unspecified number of people, and it was also a torrent of cause and effect that fluctuated under the influence.
‘This is…’
And I soon found out the reason.
-This is breaking news! There is news that indiscriminate bombings are occurring all over Seoul right now! In the government…!
-Quaaang—!
The TV screen I watched just in case.
In the midst of it all, the news anchor, who was reporting the news with an urgent expression, was cut off by a sudden burst of drinking.
The anchor’s pupils, who unconsciously flinched at the sound that was broadcast without filtering as if it had exploded near the broadcasting station, shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
, just in time for that, the smartphone I had prepared for work also started popping up with email notifications one after another.
-Jin So-ran: Load! A large-scale bombing occurred near the clan branch and the Howard Industries store site…
-Hans Slave No. 1: Hahoetal! It looks like the Buncheonhoe bastards did this! The Supernatural Talent Management Bureau is now in an emergency…
Jin So-ran, who manages Korean vampires as an agent for Heinz II, and Ahn Seong-jin, a warlock who was recruited by Hans.
Even though everyone was distracted by the sudden situation, they were trying to spread the news somehow.
And even…
– Hey, don’t come out to the bar, stay inside!
A text message also arrived from Kang Tae-san, who could be said to be his only friend.
The sentence is so messed up that you can really feel the urgency.
Having clearly grasped what was happening, I quietly closed my eyes and accelerated my thinking.
A sudden large-scale bombing occurred in various parts of Seoul.
The situation was clear.
‘Yes, the only ones who can do something like this are the Buncheonhoe bastards.’
Korea’s underworld has already been subdued under the name of the clan.
Organizations specializing in smuggling were no exception, and of course it was almost impossible to bring such weapons into the country without the eyes of the clan.
Of course, in this world where supernatural abilities are rampant, nothing is 100% impossible….
‘Not just anyone can lead something like this. It’s been so quiet so far that I thought they had completely withdrawn from Korea.’
Even as its tail was continuously cut off by persistent killings, it seems to have held its breath and hid until the end.
They were also prepared to cause such a large-scale incident.
“dare.”
A gloomy voice unknowingly leaked out from between my clenched teeth.
It was a sound that came out unconsciously to the point that I only realized it after hearing it with my own ears.
I don’t know about other places on Earth, but Korea was now my unwavering territory.
They must be aware of that fact.
But to do something so blatantly like this was no different from a provocation against me.
“Whoa—.”
I took a deep breath and tried to calm my mind.
My stomach was boiling with an inexplicable discomfort.
At least it was like this because “Myeonggyeongjisoo” was working hard. Otherwise, it would have taken more time than expected to control my stomach.
‘For now, let’s think about how to respond to this.’
First of all, solving the problem was the top priority.
If this level of unrest is not handled properly, Korea’s security, which has been stabilized at best, will be ruined again.
This anger can be resolved by thoroughly eradicating them.
‘Hans can’t be removed right away.’
After all, Kang Hwan-gye was in a state where he couldn’t easily take his eyes off him.
The Murim Allied Forces are gathering one after another near Beijing, making it an imminent situation where it would not be strange for a full-scale war to begin at any time.
If something happens while Hans, who was in charge of coordination, is away, there will be no way to fix it.
‘Of course, it doesn’t really matter if the real Hans doesn’t come.’
Don’t you happen to have a useful skill for times like this?
I used that ability right away without hesitation.
Ssssss—
at the same time.
The surrounding temperature began to drop rapidly.
The light that had brightened the room lost its momentum, and creeping darkness took its place.
The elastic skin and tough muscles melted away, leaving only a bony skeleton.
The heart that pulsated powerfully and supplied blood was replaced by a heart that scattered death, and the limitation of focus in the eyes disappeared, and the sense of death took its place.
A strangely alien feeling of omnipotence welling up throughout my body.
At that, I burst out laughing without realizing it.
[Keuk -ha ha!]
“Object Project” that covers the existence of the avatar on me.
That’s how I became Hans, the demon king who invaded the Ganghwa world.
Next, the chimera covering my body disappeared, so I put on a robe over my loose-fitting uniform and fastened the Hahoe mask tightly to my skull.
[Hehe—The rats that had been quietly hiding in the hole have crawled out.]
That must mean that Howard Industries’ sudden move was an eyesore.
To the point where the patience I had been holding on to while trying to gauge the timing was finally gone.
Of course, based on these guesses alone, I couldn’t know exactly what kind of guts they had to do something so blatant, but…
[I wonder what you guys are planning…]
That didn’t matter to me.
[—Let’s look into their heads.]
All we have to do is catch them and find out for ourselves.
***
A young man holding a smartphone attached to a selfie stick and an action cam on his body ran while breathing heavily.
“Huh huh…what on earth is happening!”
Internet broadcaster Hong Du-sik filmed the moment immediately after the appearance of the Gold Dragon from a special seat.
Thanks to that incident, the number of viewers suddenly increased. He could not forget the excitement of that day and was wandering around the outdoors looking for scoops again today.
One of the reasons was that viewers continued to drop out as the popularity of the show declined at the time.
Although he temporarily became famous with the public’s attention, that moment was only a fleeting moment, and his lack of ability began to be clearly revealed as the stories he used to explain the situation at that time were boiled down to the point where the beef bones turned into plain water.
But I couldn’t just give up.
So, he decided to buy an action camera and walked around outside with his eyes wide open under the pretense of finding hidden restaurants, which was his main content. When he thought something happened, he immediately grabbed the camera.
Just like I filmed Dragon that day, I was hoping that some kind of scoop would come out somewhere to overcome this situation.
‘Miss, I’m not even a reporter, so what kind of scoop is this? If I had known this would happen, I would have just stayed in a corner of my room and watched a game broadcast!’
When I first heard the binge drinking, I ran there in joy, thinking that my chance had finally come.
In name and reality, Korea is currently one of the world’s leading security powers.
It was because of the complacent thought that whatever problem arose would be resolved quickly…
the situation was not as easy as he thought.
Rising flames and acrid smoke.
Collapsing buildings and falling rocks that are no different from weapons.
People crying in grief and crowds rushing in like cattle in confusion.
I had to be more alert than ever before as I could lose my life if I got caught up in the wrong thing.
‘What on earth are the Guardians doing when the situation is like this? What about firefighters and police officers?’
He didn’t know it, but this attack wasn’t just a bombing.
Just before the terrorist attack, reports poured in to relevant ministries such as fire departments and police stations… or rather, ‘terrorist warning’ calls.
However, there were too many of them, and although there was some real information in them, there was also too much ‘fake information’.
Reporting systems paralyzed by non-stop calls, clearing up scenes of incidents that have already occurred, dismantling bombs that have not yet exploded, and making futile efforts due to false information.
The relevant ministries were already operating at a hectic pace, suffering from a manpower shortage even after forcibly recalling those who were off-duty.
‘uh? ‘What is that person?’
While I was frantically leaving the scene, caught up in the crowd.
Suddenly, Hong Du-sik’s eyes turned to an old man standing in the middle of the street with a mesmerized expression.
Given the current situation, it wasn’t that strange for him to have such a distraught expression, but for some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off him due to an uneasy feeling.
“Huh? “Hey, me!”
As he hesitated, he quickly realized what was the cause of his anxiety.
Cheek!
The lighter the man was holding lit up, and it caught on the wad of paper he was holding on the other side.
And the burning wad of paper falls helplessly to the floor—.
Grumbling—
It instantly began to spread in all directions along the lines of the oil that had previously been sprinkled on the floor.
“Aaaah!”
“What! Hey what are you doing! it’s crazy?!”
“Don’t push! go back! go back!”
Suddenly, flames erupted from the front, and the crowds of people who were running frantically came to a halt.
However, even in a situation where the surroundings became chaos, Hong Du-sik could not pay attention to his surroundings.
His eyes moved along the path of fire.
Rumbling—
The ignited flames race quickly.
After running like that, the place I reached was—.
“Aaaah! Bow down!”
It was a medium-sized tank truck that transported oil.
He screamed and roughly grabbed the people on either side of him and threw himself to the floor.
There was no guarantee that lying down would save you from an explosion at close range, but it was still better than standing defenseless.
And right after that.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~!
Clink—!
There was a loud noise that drowned out all surrounding sounds, and all the windows on all sides were shattered.
‘Oh, I should have played games at home!’
Hong Du-sik lay face down and closed his eyes tightly, preparing for the scorching heat that was about to come.
I heard that burns hurt that much.
Did you say that you die if you lose what percentage of your skin?
Wouldn’t it be better to just die immediately rather than live in pain?
All kinds of random thoughts swirled in my head.
Did you say that time passes slowly when the moment of death approaches?
It felt like several seconds had already passed, but there was still no heat or sound.
‘No, I think it’s a little cold…’
Surely he didn’t die before he could feel anything?
When he felt something strange.
[Hmm. [This is…]
A strange voice that seemed not of this world passed by my ears and penetrated my mind.
A creepy voice that immediately reminds you of the Grim Reaper the moment you hear it.
‘Ah, he’s dead too.’
All strength drained from my tense body.
I bit my lip from the overwhelming sense of helplessness and resignation.
Hong Du-sik stayed like that for a moment, then took a deep breath, slowly opened his eyes, and raised his head.
It would be a huge scoop if we filmed the afterlife—thinking the same nonsense.
And those thoughts.
“ah.”
Everyone flew away cleanly after seeing the unrealistic scene unfolding before their eyes.
It
was a world where everything stopped.
No, time didn’t really stop, but there was no other way to express it.
The bursting flames froze, and sharp fragments and debris were fixed in the air just as they had been flying.
The space, which had been so hot that I was sweating due to the chaos and fire, suddenly became so cold that I could barely breathe.
Those who were terrified also stopped moving and stared blankly at it, unable to say anything.
A landscape where even time seems frozen.
Hong Du-sik, who was watching the scene with his mouth open like the people around him, unconsciously turned to the sky above.
As if I was being drawn by a strange, unexplainable attraction.
The place where the gaze was directed.
A position where you have to look up at least 10 meters.
There was ‘him’.
A mask with a strange smile reflected inside a pitch-black robe and a pressed hood.
The bitterly cold ghost fire flowing from the eye sockets and the chill exuding like fog.
A being that seems to have created ominousness into the shape of a human being.
‘Hahoe mask…?’
This was Korea’s most famous dark hero, Hahoe Mask.
When I saw him, my thoughts began to flow quickly, as if my dazed head was finally being supplied with nutrients.
No matter how you look at it, he looks like a reaper, but he was clearly a real being.
Unless he had changed from a warlock to a grim reaper without his knowledge.
If that’s the case, maybe he’s not dead…
[…is it also brainwashing?]
Hahoetal, who was quietly observing the old man who committed the terrorist attack next to him, muttered softly.
Pupils out of focus and drool flowing from the corners of the mouth.
His soul, seen through the “eyes of the abyss,” was never in good condition.
‘You were really determined and prepared.’
Even if the brainwashing was not a continuous control type but rather a trigger type that activates according to specific conditions, even if we tried to trace the user through the connection, we could not specify the target.
The traces that inevitably remain are thoroughly erased, even if it means crushing the soul of the person being treated.
Because of that, all I could find out was, at most, an idea of the place where the brainwasher and this man were presumed to have encountered each other.
No matter how you look at it, this was done out of self-consciousness.
‘You want to try this with me?’
The natural fire that leaked from the corners of the Hahoe mask’s bent eyes burned fiercely.
Even though I wasn’t in a good mood, facing this situation made me feel like my insides were twisted.
Although there are no real internal organs.
‘It is natural that if someone challenges you, you will respond with all your might.’
And it wasn’t just Ilsin’s ability that he had.
He immediately conveyed his will to someone through imagery.
[It’s about Andrew Weaver.]
-Huh! Yes, yes?
When it comes to tracking and information, it is for talent with “trajectory observation,” which is the best unique skill.
Although it would be difficult to help in this disaster situation if we focused on this, there was a way.
Because he wasn’t alone.
***
“Save people! Help me!”
“Cough, call, come over here… please…!”
People shouting continuously while isolated on the rooftop of a burning building.
As they fell into despair, death approached them every moment with its bright red tongue lashing out.
Then at some point.
Whoosh—whoosh—
the fiercely burning flames quickly died down without any warning.
The black smoke that had been rising was completely swept away by a refreshing wind that blew from somewhere, and the hot air calmly settled down with moist moisture.
“Human life… huh?”
“uh…?”
The change was so sudden that even those who were screaming could barely blink.
While they were exchanging blank looks among themselves in a situation that suddenly changed as if it had been a hellish scene, this strange phenomenon was already occurring repeatedly in other places.
‘Ah… It’s annoying… It’s hard to breathe… I want to finish it quickly and go back…’
I followed the movements of the monster with a motorcycle helmet flying through the air without any motivation.
***
And another place.
“Oh, it’s a fucking man!”
“What nonsense…is it really true?”
“But that thing in your hand… Isn’t that SpaXtheMan?”
A mysterious hero whose entire body was covered in futuristic-designed metal armor was flying across the length and breadth at high speed.
Quickly rescuing those in danger with the black thread extending from his right hand.
‘Neither.’
He sighed softly and savored his appetite.
I intentionally made the design quite different, but it seems like that’s what everyone was thinking.
〈Disaster relief system in operation. By hacking nearby CCTV, we guide you to the shortest route according to the order in which you need help.〉 〈
92 meters ahead. Vital response detected beneath collapsed building debris. 6 people seriously injured, 8 people slightly injured. Displays the location of survivors in the field of view.〉
〈Emergency situation occurs. 151 meters at 2 o’clock. A fire is approaching a gas pipe. Currently there is a 25% chance of explosion. If you don’t take any action, it will reach 100% in 23 seconds.〉
Of course, that wasn’t important right now.
‘I never thought it would have this kind of ability. But it’s a product of the mechanical civilization, so I guess it’s natural.’
Following the guidance of “Inside the Machine: Callicas,” Hesperon accelerated even faster.
Leaving an unforgettable first impression on the public in an unexpected debut on Earth.